I can’t say he is the best Korean Director ever, cause Korea has a very vivid and diverse film Industry. Unfortunately, many of their films rarely get out of the Country. But, I STRONGLY believe that Park Chan-Wook is a very talented artist. I absolutely loved “Oldboy,” and I also really like “Sympathy for Lady Vengeance,” and even though I didn’t enjoyed “Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance” as much as the other two of the trilogy, I thought it was a well-done film with a very haunting story. And, in terms of the visuals, I thought “I’m a Cyborg, But That’s OK” was stunning. In addition to these, his short, in the “Three Extremes Trilogy” was pretty good too. Like all of his other films, it was very disturbing and haunting…To make it short, I think Chan-wook is a very talented director and also a really good writer, (I ‘especially’ liked the script of “Oldboy”), who has his own unique themes and motifs, and I would be interested at watching what he will do next…
First I must ask Brunetti, why do you think so?
I love most of Park Chan-Wook’s movies, but I also have to disagree that he is not the best South Korean director ever. He certainly has gotten the most commercial exposure in the West beyond cinephile circles in recent years though. I won’t mimic was Halim has already said, because I agree with him about the films he mentioned and his opinions of them. I will add however that his short film Simpan is decent and worth hunting down. Its another wonderfully twisted story he wrote before the vengeance series. His new film “Thirst” sounds really interesting, but we’ll see! Its also worth noting that his film JSA is a piece of garbage. I sure could put that more eloquently, but i don’t even want to think about it. All in all, I think what is great about Park is that aside from some of the sappy/sentimental bullshit he has written (Boy Goes to Heaven for example), he is both a talented writer and a great director. I expect many more good things from him!
My vote would be for either Im Kwon-taek or Kim Ki-Duk.
Not to play semantic games either, but lets not forget there are two Koreas…and believe it or not they both have film industries. In fact, Kim Jung-Il is a self-proclaimed cinephile. He even wrote a book which is a collection of his cinema reviews (he writes a column for the main newspaper there and is sort of like the Roger Ebert of North Korea, while also being a feared and revered dictator!).
Scan down here to read Sicinksi’s fascinating comments about Park, Lady Vengeance, and some recent online debate.
I think Park CW is greatly overrated. His films have occasionally brilliant imagery (also self consciously showy), but beneath the visual pyrotechnics, his story lines are built on gimmicks and shocks. Truly great Korean film making in recent years, imho, should be found in Chang Dong Lee. (Peppermint candy, Oasis, Secret Sunshine) These movies touch on deep, human issues, and the executions are meticulous and flawless. He generally touches on painful subject, but if you are patient, his films leave long lasting resonance. Compared to Lee, Kim ki duck is also a paper tiger, depending on intellectual counterpart of Park CW’s shallow gimmicks.
Another great korean film maker is Bong Jun Ho, who recently made a hit movie called “the Host”, although his earlier film (Memories of murder) is far superior. The trouble with these films (Bong and Lee’s) is that great acting and verbal nuance of Seol Kyung Koo and Song Gang Ho is lost in translations. It is as if you are asked to watch the scenes in Pulp Fiction by just reading poorly translated subtitles with sound mute. No wonder directors like CW Park and KD Kim are more popular with their pseudo philosophy and extreme imagery which easily survive translation….
“Take care of my cat” is another excellent Korean film by an unknown director, which is along the line of movies such as Yi Yi and other introverted films. The pinnacle of Korean melo-drama may be “Failan”. “One Fine Spring Day” by Hur Jinho is also excellent, but not available in the West. Both, exquisitely made. Most of these movies appeared during the last few years, but sadly, the Korean film industry seem to head downhill at the moment in a mad mad pursuit of $,
Park’s okay. He has his ups and downs, but overall he rounds out to being somewhere above average. I keep an eye on him nonetheless, because Lady Vengeance was really good.
Park has a great eye. That is somehing you can see in all of his films. There is only one of his film that I would consider brilliant and that is not Oldboy, it’s Mr. Vengeance. I don’t get why people like Oldboy so much. There are HUGE plot holes but it is vastly more enjoyable than Lady Vengeance. I need to finnish Cyborg but what I have seen was good. JSA were pretty good and I LOVED his segment in 3 extremes(The best Segment-Cut).
Kim Ki-Duk, in my opinion, is one of the best filmmakers working today. The span of his work is amazing and although the male centered melo-drama is not the most popular catagory to be involved in I present two amazing selections:
3-iron
Winter, Spring, Summer, Fall, & Winter
The names of those two films might vary a little due to translation or which company puts them out but after laughing at the second title’s werid name and watching the first film…I was amazed.
Not to diss Park, Bong, Lee or many of the other awesome filmmakers but when presented with Park; I present Kim Ki-Duk
Park is pretty much the springboard for finding better Korean directors. You watch Oldboy or Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance and then you start looking for better Korean movies. That’s my opinion, at least.
Anyone have a recommendation for the best Kwon-taek film to watch? He has a lot to choose from..
I have certainly enjoyed his films far more than some of the other films, by different directors, mentioned already in this thread. It does seem he is somewhat overrated though.
What do you people think of the film ‘Friend’ by Kyung-Taek Kwak? I am very unfamiliar with Kwon-taek could anyone perhaps recommend a film?Park is the Penny Marshall of South Korean cinema. He shoots a scene from every angle possible and hopes to make it work in the editing room. He usually fails. And when you lay this incompetent mise-en-scene across adolescent, persecution-complex revenge fantasies, you get major crap.
About Im Kwon-taek, I’d recommend Seopyeonje, myabe his finest mastework, yet obscure.
@Christopher: Maybe start with the Im Kwon-taek boxset that was released in Korea available on import DVD: Sopyonje, Taebaek Mountains, Chunyang, Come Come Come Upwards & Festival are included. Also Chihwaseon available on separate DVD.
I think Park is a filmmaker of limited talents and Korean cinema has far better directors to explore and celebrate. Maybe Mr. Vengeance or JSA are the most sophisticated films he’s made but that’s not saying a huge deal. Lady Vengeance is middling at best and his contribution to the portmanteau Three Extremes called Cut was an abomination. Likewise Kim Ki-duk’s filmography offers slim pleasures and does not warrant the attention or praise he gets from some quarters. If I had to choose between the latest KKD (trash like Dream or Breath) or genuinely fascinating and brilliant work by indie directors like the Kim Brothers (Gok & Sun), Whang Cheol-man, Kim Kyung-mook, Shin Jane, Lee Sang-woo and many others, it’s no contest.
@Seungoh R.: “Take care of my cat” is another excellent Korean film by an unknown director
A quick search yields that it is Jae-eun Jeong. http://www.kino.com/takecareofmycat/
stylistically his films are always top notch, but in some cases (cyborg, thirst) they are lacking in substance. he has a lot of talent and i’m interested to see what he will do next.
“Park is the Penny Marshall of South Korean cinema.”
Wow hahaha. I was going to say Park is the Michael Bay of Korean cinema but Gringo Tex tops me by hauling out Marshall from the woodshed.
Cheers Gringo for your creativity!
Damn – what the hell am I going to do in the next round of the AWC now?
Take Care of my Cat is a favorite of mine as well. The two films Jae-eun Jeong directed after that where boring and not good at all though. She also directed a short film before she directed Take Care of my Cat named The Girls Night Out which is worth seeing.
I like Park Chan Wook a lot. The last thing i saw from him was Simpan (Judgement) and I enjoyed very much. It has the usual elements of his films, including that twisted black humor.
I wish him luck with the remake of Costa Gavras’ Le Couperet. I trust that he will bring part of his particular style to the project. :)
love him!!
“oldboy” and “thirst”
what more can you ask for:
“jsa”?
Park Chan-Wook is good at showing off technically advanced, pretty shots and edits… even when they don’t fit the scene or story.
…He’s also good at attempting shock-value scenes, but they are almost always pointless.
If pretty irrelevant visuals, bad actor-directing, and poor-taste shock value was enough to make a director “the best in Korea” I would say you are right.
Otherwise, he is the most artless, and childish director I have seen in my life on screen… and I’ve watched many poor student films.
I sincerely hope Koreans are appreciating their better films and directors, or they’d soon lose them altogether.
For the most part, The Vengeance Trilogy was great: full of juicy melodrama, gorgeous visuals and interesting characters. His segment in Three Extremes was probably my favorite, and I liked that it was a stretch for him, but still bared his mark. Thirst, though, was a disappointment. The visuals and performances were, as usual, top notch and interesting, but I thought it was a tad too gratuitous and it went on for too long. He remains, however, a fascinating director in my eyes and I look forward to what he comes out with next!
solid director, i’m not well versed in korean cinema but he’s one of the best directors from there that i’ve seen. JSA is great, I’m one of the people that thinks Oldboy is incredible and the vengeance trilogy as a whole, Thirst was such a strange and unique film and one of the best and overlooked in ’09.
I don’t think in terms of “best korean director” or “best american director” because I think it’s absurd but Park Chan Wook is definitely one of the best directors working today.
Definitely a visual genius. I turned to a couple of his films to appreciate mise en scène.
The over-cut/messiness aspect complained about in this thread is one of my favorite things about Park Chan-Wook. I tend to, in my opinion, be attracted to two approaches to direction: the very careful, structurally solid direction where “every frame means something” and every cut is considered, and its almost exact opposite, the “you know what, people can bitch but I’m doing THIS!” style. Park is like that in his writing as well as direction— Thirst jumps all over the place but always in service to a continual story that he steadies himself on. If it just so happens that he needs to stick the audience in a white ambient room for a protracted length of time, he does it, even if they’ve already gone through a movie decidedly not structured to that same beat.
But it IS messy and thus not for everyone. I happen to like Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance the best because I find it the most realistic of the vengeance trilogy, but realism isn’t his thing and I can see why it wouldn’t work for other people.
—PolarisDiB
Duccio Brunetti
What do you think about Park Chan-wook?
The best south-korean director of ever?(sorry for my mistake)